San Benito boys, Sharyland High girls win Dog Pound Invitational

The San Benito boys cross country team stands with their trophy after winning the Dog Pound Invitational meet Saturday morning at San Benito High School. By Stefan Modrich, The Brownsville Herald

Dog Pound Invitational

1 of 3

The San Benito boys cross country team stands with their trophy after winning the Dog Pound Invitational meet Saturday morning at San Benito High School. By Stefan Modrich, The Brownsville Herald

Brownsville Hanna's Marcos Tellez runs down the final stretch of the course to the finish line during the Dog Pound Invitational Saturday morning at San Benito High School. Tellez finished fifth overall and the Golden Eagles finished second in the varsity boys division. By Stefan Modrich, The Brownsville Herald

San Benito's Joaquin Medina sprints downhill, followed by Brownsville Hanna's John Abrego during the Dog Pound Invitational Saturday morning at San Benito High School. Medina finished second overall and the Greyhound boys won the meet. By Stefan Modrich, The Brownsville Herald

SAN BENITO — Right from the shotgun start, something was different about the 21st annual Dog Pound Invitational.

Cross country mainstays like Brownsville Hanna and Harlingen High were right in the thick of things again Saturday morning, but the Greyhounds took home their first title in the varsity boys division behind strong performances from Joaquin Medina (16 minutes, 45.12 seconds) and Marco Salinas (17:55.24) in the 5K race on the team’s multi-surface home course.

“We wanted to make history,” Medina said moments after triumphantly raising a purple “SB” flag atop a pole attached to his pickup truck. “We were telling each other, ‘Hey man, we can do this.’ We needed to just push our pace and have a good mentality.”

Said San Benito boys coach Mark Buddle, “That was huge. We had all five of our boys in the top 17, and that was a massive breakthrough for us. We haven’t had that ever before. And they don’t even want to go home.”

Buddle said his team’s historic day is a step in the right direction for the program to close the gap between the Greyhounds and the Golden Eagles and Cardinals.

“I kept telling them, ‘If we do that, we’re going to start winning some meets,’” Buddle said. “‘Well, gee, coach isn’t just blowing smoke, this is real.’ The cool thing is they worked hard, and then they had this success. I mean, I’ve been praying all week, it’s like I’ve been praying for it in tongues or something. But it happened, and we just thank God that he saw fit for us to run hard.”

Mercedes’ Lupe Reyes posted the fastest time of the day with a 16:36.81.

“I can’t really hold the pace by myself,” Medina said. “So I’m glad that (Reyes) was up there so that I could hold the pace.”

San Benito recorded 51 points to finish atop the standings, followed by Brownsville Hanna with 69 and Harlingen High with 87. The Golden Eagles’ trio of John Abrego (17:02.03), Felipe Parra (17:08.34) and Marcos Tellez rounded out the top five.

The Sharyland High girls took the top spot with 33 points, Weslaco High boasted the top two overall girls finishers, Amity Ebarb (19:59.15) and Destinee Longoria (20:12.34). The Lady Rattlers were paced by bronze medalist Danielle Salinas (20:21.31).

Harlingen South took third place with 87 points. Arianna Rodriguez (21:44.93) placed 13th overall to lead the Lady Hawks.

Stefan Modrich Total Posts: 158 Stefan Modrich is a 2017 graduate of Arizona State University, where he was the Sports Editor for The State Press, ASU's independent student news publication. He is also a graduate of the University of Zagreb in Croatia, where he completed a foreign language program in 2018. A native of Franklin Park, Illinois, Modrich previously covered high school sports for The Arizona Republic, Chicago Tribune, and Mars Reel Media.